Tom Brady Joins Twitter, Shocks Fans With His First Post On April Fools’ Day
Tom Brady may have six Super Bowl rings, but there’s one thing he didn’t have in his life that millions of other people do — a Twitter account. That all changed this week when the New England Patriots quarterback signed up for the social media network shortly before April Fools’ Day and, as People noted, wasted no time writing up a post that sent the internet into a frenzy.
According to the 41-year-old’s Twitter profile, the account was created sometime in March, with his one and only tweet hitting the page on Monday, April 1. Despite being a newbie to the platform, Tom certainly proved that he knows how to win the internet with a short message that caused some alarm with football fans around the world.
“I’m retiring,” he wrote in his debut tweet that was sent out shortly after 12 p.m. ET. “In my spare time, I’ll be tweeting #LFG.”
The message garnered some serious attention and, at the time of this writing, has racked up more than 40,000 likes, as well as 16,000 retweets after just an hour of going live — and those numbers are climbing by the second. The tweet has also elicited thousands of responses, many from New England Patriots fans panicking over the possibility that they’d lost their star quarterback just days after the team’s starting tight end, Rob Gronkowski, announced his own retirement.
Not funny, @TomBrady. ?https://t.co/XrHXdBEgKI
— 98.5 The Sports Hub (@985TheSportsHub) April 1, 2019
Others, however, quickly realized the date and determined that the tweet was just an April Fools’ Day prank — and a successful one, at that.
Me looking at the date… pic.twitter.com/9HfwnIzBf3
— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) April 1, 2019
“Tom Brady is now on Twitter. And he’s got jokes,” one user wrote in response to the NFL star’s tweet.
Now that's how the ? joins Twitter
— Twitter (@Twitter) April 1, 2019
And just in case anybody was still unsure as to whether or not the Super Bowl champion was serious about his career move, Tom followed up with another tweet to assure fans that he was, in fact, joking about the subject.
Was this a bad joke?
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) April 1, 2019
Brady has made it clear that he has no plans to hang up his jersey any time soon. As People noted, the athlete explained to ESPN in January that he still has a few years left in him.
“I’ve set a goal for myself at 45,” he explained. “Like I’ve said before, it’s very hard to make it that far. I know how hard it was this year and the commitment it takes and hopefully, I’ve learned from some of the things that happened this year to be better next year. But every year is tough.”
When it does come time to call it quits with the sport, Tom told the sports news outlet that he’ll know when the time is right — and that it’s certainly not now.
“I’m gonna feel like, ‘OK, I’ve had enough,'” he said. “I don’t quite feel like that yet.”
